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Underground Hermes Castle
The Underground Hermes Castle was a secret base of the Church, hidden in the natural sinkhole. It served as the real core of the organization. Only the Pope and his successor were allowed to enter and leave the castle. Structure The staircase The Underground Castle started from a circular staircase leading into the earth. The staircase, with a depth of at least of four towers atop each other and a diameter of about 20 feet, was built in a natural sinkhole and was large enough to hold a lord's castle. The top of the sinkhole was lit by the skylights on the highly-arched dome above, while the center of the sinkhole reflected a faint blue light. The deeper it went, the brighter the light grew. The path was cut out of granite, formed by many rectangular pieces three fingers thick. It was wide enough for two people walk side by side. One end of each granite piece was embedded into the rock wall while the other end was in the air. In order to prevent accidental falls, there were wooden fence posts that were connected by rope at the side of the hole. At the bottom of the sinkhole was a huge white stone disc, smooth as a mirror. Through a cleverly designed construction, the light coming through the windows within the dome was so reflected that it directly hit the millstone. Thanks to this, even without lighting a torch, the bottom of the doline was never darkChapters 84-85. Depth of the mountain Apart from the main road to the south there were many side forks which further divided. Some tunnels were used bu the church, while another were sealed. The main road led to to the depths of the mountain. There was a checkpoint every 100 meters, every district between two barriers served a different function. The outermost district was a living quarter for the warriors who guarded the underground. The second district was reserved for the archive for documents, manuscripts, and where the surviving volumes of ancient books were located, the third district was the prison for people which the church needed to keep hidden from the rest of the world. After the third checkpoint was the Pivotal Secret Area, from which all the discoveries and inventions of the church originated. Defence On the stone surface directly above the stairs were embedded God's Stones of Retaliation. Every hundred step down the stairs there was a guard from the Judgement Army. Every checkpoint of the castle's main area was guarded by the squad of five most loyal judges, sworn to live the rest of their life underground. Within the castle, a platoon of God's Punishment Army was ready to meet the invaders head-on. Background Construction of the Underground Castle was accompanied by tremendous efforts and losses. The masons in the church were suspended on ropes so that they could carve grooves deep enough and insert the slates in them one by one; more than 300 people had died from broken or slipped ropes. Chronology Mayne visited king Wimbledon III and told him news of Graycastle's inner conflict before poisoning him. References Category:Church Category:Locations